NPAC: Performing Arts Unite in Denver

Less than a month from now a remarkable event will take
place in Denver:
the National Performing Arts Convention, scheduled for Tuesday, June 10 through
Saturday, June 14. Although it's billed as the second such convention (the
first was in Pittsburgh
in 2004), it will actually be a first in most ways. In Pittsburgh, the various service organizations
combined for an opening session on a Wednesday night, and produced some
combined discussions and sessions on Saturday. But on Thursday and Friday, the
individual organizations each operated their own independent conferences.

In Denver,
the content is combined into one joint true convention, with some time for the
separate service organizations to have their own internal meetings. The five
core organizations at the hub of this convention are the League of American
Orchestras, Opera America, Chorus America,
Dance USA,
and Theater Communications Group. But there are dozens of other organizations
involved as well.

By combining forces, we have been able to attract speakers
and put together sessions that no one service organization could have attracted
on its own. The result is going to be a very intensive, stimulating,
provocative, and, I believe, productive gathering.

The must-see general sessions feature such speakers as
business guru Jim Collins (author of Good to Great and Built to Last)
and the visionary founder of Venezuela's
music education program "El Sistema," José Antonio Abreu (whose session will be
moderated by Marin Alsop). In addition, seminars from National Arts Strategies
and the League's OrchestraLeadershipAcademy
will offer NPACers substantial learning opportunities.

League constituency-meeting blocks will take place as usual,
but time will also be set aside for breakouts, workshops, and special League
presentations addressing the "El Sistema" success, electronic media, and what
is becoming a hot-button topic, the "churn" phenomenon--how our orchestras
attract newcomers but fail to effectively convert them to long-term supporters.

NPAC ends with a 21st-century Town Meeting on Saturday, conducted
by AmericaSpeaks, during which participants will create the agenda that
activates the performing arts community in America. Not to be missed.